# Spiritualism (philosophy)

In philosophy, spiritualism is the concept, shared by a wide variety of systems of thought, that there is an immaterial reality that cannot be perceived by the senses. This includes philosophies that postulate a personal God, the immortality of the soul, or the immortality of the intellect or will, as well as any systems of thought that assume a universal mind or cosmic forces lying beyond the reach of purely materialistic interpretations.
Generally, any philosophical position, be it dualism, monism, atheism, theism, pantheism, idealism or any other, is compatible with spiritualism as long as it allows for a reality beyond matter. Theism is an example of a dualist spiritualist philosophy, while pantheism is an example of monist spiritualism.

## Historical Development of Spiritualism

The roots of spiritualism as a metaphysical belief lie in dualism and idealism. Plato first argued in his Theory of Forms that the physical world is just a shadow of a higher, non-material reality. The forms, which are perfect and eternal, exist independently of the material world, meaning that true reality is immaterial. Aristotle, while more grounded in materialism than Plato, built on his ideas and saw the soul, or "psyche,” as an immaterial principle that animates living beings. Neoplatonists such as Plotunus built even further on these ideas, proposing that all reality emanates from a single immaterial source coined "The One", meaning that the material world is a lower representation of the immaterial one.
As spiritualism got a hold of medieval & religious metaphysical thinkers, figures like St. Augustine emerged who introduced Plato to Christian thought, suggesting that God is the ultimate reality. Following him comes Thomas Aquinas, bringing Aristotle into Christian thought and putting forth the idea that and the soul is both eternal and immaterial. Parallel to these figures Islamic figure Avicenna thinks of the “floating man” thought experiment, arguing that a person, even without sensory input, would still be aware of their own immaterial self. This thought experiment was intended to prove the immaterial nature of the soul.
As metaphysics developed, early modern philosophers thought through how the immaterial world could interact with the material world. René Descartes famously argued in his Meditations on First Philosophy that the mind (immaterial) and the body (material) are distinct substances. George Berkley came after Descartes and, as an idealistic spiritualist, denied the existence of the material world entirely, arguing that all reality is mental, stating that “to be is to be perceived,” meaning the material world only exists within the mind of God.
As materialism gained dominance in science, some philosophers continued defending spiritualist metaphysics. Immanuel Kant, while not a strict spiritualist, argued that reality as we perceive it (phenomena) is different from things in themselves (noumena), which could be immaterial or unknowable. Henri Bergson also argued for an immaterial “élan vital,” or life force, that guides evolution beyond mechanistic physical laws. These thinkers focused on consciousness as prior to and shaping physical reality, leading to existentialist and spiritualist interpretations.
In contemporary metaphysics, spiritualist views still persist in areas like panpsychism, where it is argued consciousness is a fundamental property of reality rather than an emergent property of matter. Also in idealism & process philosophy, arguing that reality is composed of mental or spiritual events rather than physical matter. And finally in quantum consciousness, suggesting that mind and reality are interconnected at the quantum level, hinting at a possible non-material basis for consciousness.

## Notable spiritualist thinkers

* Aristotle
* Henri Bergson
* Maine de Biran
* F. H. Bradley
* Émile Boutroux
* Victor Cousin
* René Descartes
* Giovanni Gentile
* William Ernest Hocking
* Jules Lachelier Lebensphilosophie (French school)
* Louis Lavelle
* René Le Senne
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
* Pindar
* Plato
* Josiah Royce